It seems like we have been pushing a lot of shows lately at the Beauty Bar, but we promise that this one is really worth going to. If you’re like us and lyrics aren’t an absolute requirement, then El Ten Eleven is a must for you. Hailing from California, El Ten Eleven is a two-man group comprised of bassist and composer Kristian Dunn and drummer Tim Fogarty, who formed in 2004. The fact is… get ready to rock out folks.

As always, a little visual enjoyment for you guys from the fine folks at YouTube.

We told you guys last week about Fourth Fridays on 11th street, and we ended up going to see for our selves what all the fuss was about. We had a lovely dinner at the Blue Dahlia, bought an awesome piece of jewelry from Natasha from Beyond Unique, and met a lot of cool people like Jeff over at zickster, who’s all about keepin’ Austin batty, among other things.

click on image for slideshow

Fancy yourself a “Top Chef” but don’t know how to julienne? Yeah, that would definitely be us. We’re comtemplating signing up for cooking bootcamp at the Kitchen Connection on E. 12th and Cedar.

Their current sessions promise to get you started in the basics of preparing “simple, nutritious meals,” and classes include cooking staples, hyping up your salad, making stews, meats and veggies, and a class on baking cakes, cookies and pies to end things on a sweet note.

Five sessions (15 hours total) for $200. They also offer one-time specialty courses for $45. Current one-time offerings include cooking up some quiche, baking up some cream pies, and tips on becoming an Italian Stallion in their “Italian Connection” class. They are also preparing a three-session bootcamp for September.

click on image to take you to the flickr slide show

It’s Saturday night and you still don’t have plans? Don’t worry – we know your spontaneous side is looking for a true East Austin indie-experience. Grab your friends and get ready for a night of hippie demons tie-tyed in blood – a self proclaimed “weird movie from Providence”! Admission is free and the film will be projected on the side of a building at 1301 E. 4th Street. Get ready for, “THE GRATEFUL UNDEAD” – tonight at 8PM. Click here to watch the trailer.

I ran into filmmaker Allen Riley at Rio Rita, who literally is in Austin for a week to show his film guerilla-style around the neighborhood.

Q. Tell me about your film – what should people expect tonight?

I wrote and directed the movie withPatrick May, my best friend. It’s a psychedelic horror-movie. Imagine a ’60s and ’70s drive-in movie, set in the ’90s. We were writing the movie and planning it a couple years ago and at the time it was hard to imagine how to pull off a film in that era when the idea of the ’90s hadn’t really entered pop culture yet. Also, we play it off of VHS so it’s grimy and dark. I’d say it’s like “Slacker” and “Reality Bites” combined with “Easy Rider”.

Q. What was your budget on this film?

A. $850.

Q. What made you come to Austin to show this film? No hippie demon lovers in Rhode Island?

A. We did a tour in January and went house-to-house from Providence to Chicago and back and it was really fun. I wanted to do an ambitious tour to Austin and back this summer, but gas prices continued to rise and it became less and less feasible. So i thought it might be cool to do a self-imposed residency in a city. Rather than drive around from place to place, just ride my bike in one city for awhile. Same effort.

Q. What do you pack on your bike?

A. The other day I had a tree-shaped pot for donations, a VHS player, the video, a video of the 1994 MTV Music Video Awards that sometimes we show before the movie. Today’s a special case, due to the closing of the gallery – we had to get a car to transport the audio equipment.

Q. Showing your film on the side of a building is a bit different than the normal movie experience. Where else have you screened?

A. We’ve done all sorts of weird stuff. Playing it in cafe’s, places that only open for special events, people’s houses and basements, theatres and whatever we could find.

Q. What’s been your favorite East Austin experience so far?

A. The generosity of the people around here has been pretty incredible. David being so helpful (from the Austin Figurative Gallery) and Tyler from Progress helping to set up my screenings. Lee from Pedal Pushers too. Many people here have been going out of their way for me and that’s the only reason this event isn’t totally screwed.

Treasure City Thrift is hosting a huge Free Market this Sunday! What’s all the commotion you ask? Basically its like a potluck, everyone bring something and you can take whatever someone else brought that they didn’t want. Well we aren’t too sure about it yet, we haven’t been to one but we will most likely be popping in for this tomorrow. Check out their flyer for more information.

Once again Jason who runs atxsbs is keeping the bike community up to date with everything that is bike related in Austin. Critical Mass is coming up and here is some info straight from the atxbs digest… sign up for it here. They will be making a pit stop at Radical Dixie Ranch which just relocated to the east side so mount up this evening!

On Friday is Critical Mass so everyone should meet up at the University
Fountain at 5 or so. Wear a costume…or anything you got…or anything you
don’t got…after all its hot and you can go topless! I’ll probably be
wearing
my brand new amish style bonnet…seriously!

After the ride we’ll be headed over to RDR for some beer and good fun. We
set
up the yard and hopefully will get enough x-mas lights to make the place
look
crazy…come visit the chickens and drink beers with us. It will be mainly
BYOB…but who knows what could happen!
Even if you don’t make it out for the ride come over and party
anyway….we’ll
be getting down till the wee hours of the morning. Bring instruments,
friends,
and anything else amazing you can think of!